DHS cancels virtual border fence

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano announced on Friday her department is canceling a $3 billion program to erect a problem-plagued, high-tech, virtual fence along the U.S. border with Mexico.

Department officials briefed Congress Friday on its decision to scrap the Secure Border Initiative (SBINet) and its plan to move ahead with commercially available mobile surveillance systems, drones, thermal imaging devices, tower-based surveillance and some elements of the program on the chopping block.

Beginning in 2005, the concept of the Secure Border Initiative held promise in sealing the nation’s lengthy and rugged borders. Rather than building a physical fence, Boeing created a system of sensors and cameras that could watch for intruders and alert the U.S. Border patrol and other law enforcement authorities.

But execution was another matter. The cost of the program, riddled with technical difficulties, kept growing, and its schedule kept stretching. Government watchdogs wrote critical report after report. And other companies were putting out similar technology in the commercial marketplace.

Last March, Napolitano stopped funding the program, citing the succession of cost overruns and delays and opted instead to invest in technological solutions that were already commercially available and take time to assess the program.

“Not only do we have an obligation to secure our borders, we have a responsibility to do so in the most cost effective way possible,” she said in a statement at the time.

Toward that end, the department invested $50 million to buy 10 backscatter radars, 104 vehicle pursuit cameras, 78 thermal imaging devices, three aerial observation cameras and at least 30 mobile surveillance systems. That kind of equipment, along with parts of the SBINet program that worked, is what that department will use going forward.

“Independent, quantitative, science-based assessments will continue along each sector of the Southwest border in 2011 to determine the optimal combination of technology for each region,” Napolitano said.

Boeing was not lamenting the decision.

“We appreciate that they recognize value of the integrated fixed towers Boeing has built, tested, and delivered so far,” spokeswoman Deborah Bosick said in a statement. “Boeing remains committed to providing valuable solutions and supporting DHS.”

But Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.), the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee who plans to spotlight immigration enforcement in the new Congress, blasted the administration for dragging its feet.

“Since announcing a moratorium to SBInet, it has taken DHS a full year to make the final decision to cancel the program,” King said. “Now, today, we learn that DHS will spend all of 2011, and maybe longer, deciding what to do next. These delays are unacceptable.”

But Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, the committee’s ranking Democrat, said it was about time.

“The SBInet program has been a grave and expensive disappointment since its inception,” he said. “Our committee has held 11 hearings on the project, commissioned five critical [Government Accountability Office] reports, all while costing taxpayers nearly $1 billion for only 53 miles of coverage.”

And Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), the chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, said he hoped the new route chosen by DHS will be an improvement.

“SBInet’s one-size-fits-all approach was unrealistic,” Lieberman said. “The department’s decision to use technology based on the particular security needs of each segment of the border is a far wiser approach, and I hope it will be more cost effective.”